Passing The Test

For U.S. and UN soldiers fighting the Korean War, the spring of 1951 was brutal. The troops faced a tough and determined foe under challenging conditions. The Chinese Spring Offensive of 1951 exemplified the hardships of the war, as the UN forces struggled with the Chinese troops over Line Kansas, a phase line north of the 38th parallel, in a conflict that led to the war's final stalemate. Passing the Test: Combat in Korea, April--June 1951 explores the UN responses to the offensive in detail, looking closely at combat from the perspectives of platoons, squads, and the men themselves. Editors William T. Bowers and John T. Greenwood emphasize the tactical operations on the front lines and examine U.S. and UN strategy, as well as the operations of the Communist Chinese and North Korean forces. They employ a variety of sources, including interviews conducted by U.S. Army historians within hours or days of combat, unit journals, and after action reports, to deliver a comprehensive narrative of the offensive and its battles.

Passing the Test highlights the experiences of individual soldiers, providing unique insights into the chaos, perseverance, and heroism of war. The interviews offer a firsthand account that is untainted by nostalgia and later literature, illuminating the events that unfolded on the battlefields of Korea.

William T. Bowers (1946--2008), a former U.S. Army officer, was editor of The Line: Combat in Korea, January--February 1951 and Striking Back: Combat in Korea, March--April 1951.

John T. Greenwood, who retired in 2007 as chief of the Office of Medical History, Office of the Surgeon General, U.S. Army, is the editor of Milestones of Aviation, Normandy to Victory: The War Diary of General Courtney H. Hodges and the First U.S. Army, and The Blitzkrieg Legend: The 1940 Campaign in the West. He lives in Annandale, Virginia.